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Personal Velocity’s Fairuza Balk
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A flurry of acquisition deals means many of this year's Sundance Film Festival favorites will reach post-festival audiences. A few Sundance films, especially the documentaries, will be on TV later this year.
Those lucky Sundance films with theatrical distribution have the chance to prove their mettle beyond parka-wearing crowds in Park City, Utah. In the Bedroom, director Todd Field's acclaimed drama about a family coping with loss, made its debut at last year's festival. For the 2002 class of Sundance hopefuls, that film is proof that reaching a sizable commercial audience is possible. Here are some 2002 films that could follow In the Bedroom's footsteps.
BLUE CAR: Writer/director Karen Moncrieff's searing drama about the troubled life of an 18-year high school girl was the critical favorite this year. Meg (Agnes Bruckner) writes poetry to help her through her tough days. Mr. Auster (David Strathairn) is the English teacher who encourages her to enter a national poetry contest for which he is a judge. Auster becomes the father figure Meg desperately needs. While together at the poetry contest, their relationship heads in an unexpected direction. With complex storytelling, engaging performances and emotional honesty, it's the film most deserving of comparison to last year's favorite, In the Bedroom.
THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE: The colorful life of veteran Hollywood producer Robert Evans is the subject of co-directors Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein's lively documentary. Based on Evans' autobiography, The Kid Stays in the Picture tells Evans' story in an intentionally lopsided fashion. More "Bob-umentary" than open-minded documentary, the film shies away from some of Evans' failures, including his attempt to star opposite Jack Nicholson in the Chinatown sequel, The Two Jakes. Still, whatever the film lacks in unbiased reporting it makes up with zesty storytelling and plenty of show-biz panache.
THE LARAMIE PROJECT: Moisés Kaufman's adaptation of his play takes a heartfelt look at the brutal attack on gay college student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyo. Stunning photography and recycled news footage carry the story from stage to screen, and dialogue from 200 interviews puts the film's storytelling somewhere between dramatic narrative and documentary. Strong performances from the ensemble cast add a sense of honesty. The Laramie Project is unbiased and open-minded in its depiction of residents and their reaction to the hate attack. You won't agree with everything you hear in the film, but you'll listen just the same. With its pro-tolerance message and activist spirit, it's the type of socially relevant film Sundance uses as its trademark.
PERSONAL VELOCITY: Rebecca Miller adapts her own short stories into a likable film about women and decisions that determine their lives. Personal Velocity is divided into three stories. In the first segment, Kyra Sedgwick plays a tough girl who ends up being the victim of an abusive husband. In the second story, Parker Posey is a literary editor who resents her father's infidelity. After her own bout of career success, she begins to view her own marriage differently. In the film's least successful segment, Fairuza Balk is a pregnant woman caught in an unwanted relationship. After she witnesses a tragic accident, her own feelings about relationships and family change. Heartfelt narration puts the spotlight on Miller's compelling dialogue. Her words drive the film. The winner of the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, Personal Velocity leaves Park City with the best festival credentials.
STORYTELLING: Writer/director Todd Solondz tackles race, class and sexuality with two tales about the moral vacuum known as suburban America. In "Fiction," a white college student (Selma Blair) suffers on-campus and off-campus humiliations at the hands of her black creative writing professor (Robert Wisdom). In "Nonfiction," a documentary filmmaker (Paul Giamatti) convinces a wealthy suburban family to let their slacker teen-age son (Mark Webber) be the focus of a film. Solondz's ability to juggle social drama and dark comedy makes Storytelling into a unique and wonderful moviegoing experience. With slick photography and solid performances from its ensemble cast, it proves Solondz is one of contemporary film's most significant filmmakers.
TADPOLE: In director Gary Winick's clever coming-of-age comedy, Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford) is an uptight prep student whose Thanksgiving visit with his academic New York family is turned upside-down by his love-struck fantasies for an older woman. John Ritter and Sigourney Weaver are the likable parents. Bebe Neuwirth gets big laughs as the family friend who complicates Oscar's life. But Stanford grabs the spotlight as the cerebral, snobbish Oscar. Late in the film, when he accepts people who don't share his passion for Voltaire, his personality change feels honest and believable. Tadpole might not be a quintessential, somber Sundance drama -- it's funny instead of fearless -- but good comedies shouldn't be dismissed. Of all the Sundance films, Tadpole has the best chance to reach a larger audience.
